


Secrets

by transmuting



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-12
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-19 05:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmuting/pseuds/transmuting
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one shot AU setting. Maka has been pretending to be a boy so she can become a knight, but when Soul comes into her room after she wakes up in from her first monthly cycle, she's forced to confess her biggest secret and hope he'll be willing to keep it.</p><p>I might make this longer someday, but for now, it's going to stay a one-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets

It had been several years since Maka had forged her papers and made her way into the castle grounds to be trained as a knight. She had fought and pleaded with her father, begging him to not send her to the horrid schools meant to train women to become boring, stuffy, proper ladies. He had wanted her safe, wanted her traditional, but he’d known it was a losing battle from the start. Since her mother had left to explore the world with a band of travelers that had come through their town when Maka was only a child, she had dreamed of getting to have her own adventures. She’d played with the boys in town, learned to sword fight on her own time - at least crudely so, if nothing else - and she wanted to be taught the proper ways. 

He had caved in spit of the danger, the chance of being locked away or worse, and so far, she had done him proud. She’d been a squire now, under the wing of Stein, and had formed a solid group of friends who all knew her as Mark. She’d done well at keeping her own secret, glad that she’d gotten her own room and finding ways to take baths when no one else was around. It was hard and she sometimes went days where she probably smelled worse than a pig, but that seemed to be typical of even noblemen who were too tired after a long days work.

But there had been one thing she hadn’t been expecting. Something that made her wake up with a stifled scream as she pulled back the sheets. A pool of blood and a painful shot of pain through her belly. She had a brief panicking where she was sure she was going to die, where she had to have been wounded on the inside from when she’d wrestled too hard with Black*Star, before her mind had started to remind her that this was probably that natural thing her father had once warned her about. The time of the month that all girls had to suffer through when they became women. She cursed, quickly trying to move around to clean up the mess the best she could.

“Is everything alright, Mark? I heard a lot of shuffling and I thought--” Soul had cracked the door open, candle in hand, just as Maka had been shoving a rolled up old shirt between her legs, trying to stop the flow. She looked up at him awkwardly, slightly panicked, but very glad she was at least mostly covered. Still, he could see the dim sight of blood on the bed and dripping down her thigh and his face immediately went to worry. “What the hell happened? Did someone break into your room? Are you injured? I’m going to get a doctor.”

“Wait!” She’d lunged to grab onto his shirt, pulling him into the room quickly and shutting the door. She blocked it the best she could with her small body, shaking her head repeatedly. “I can’t see a doctor. Not a castle doctor. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. It’s not - it’s not that big a deal.”

“There’s blood everywhere, how can you say that’s not a big deal? I know you downplay your injuries, Mark, but seriously? You have to see someone. I’m not going to sit back and let you bleed to death out of your own stubbornness and fear of medical attention.”

“This is normal!” She hadn’t meant to snap it and she was sure she sounded insane. The look on Soul’s face only confirmed that and she sighed, her eyes shutting as she leaned forward into him a bit. He seemed to take this as her being light headed from bleeding as he quickly guided her back to the bed and forced her to sit, quickly starting to look her over for signs of outer injuries.

“How can you call this normal? Are you some kind of idiot? It’s never normal when a man bleeds this much.” He had started to run his hands over her stomach through the cloth of her shirt and Maka immediately began to shift away.

“I can’t explain, but just trust --”

“Explain or there is no way I can trust you,” he all but growled, the worry clear in his eyes. “We’ve known each other for years now, been through all these trials together - you should know you can tell me anything.” His voice was earnest, hand reaching out to clasp her wrist. He stared up at her, face stern and serious. “Tell me or I’m getting a doctor.”

Maka stared at him for a long while, feeling cornered and rightfully frightened. If he reacted in a negative way, it could ruin everything. She knew she should have been able to trust him, but a large part of her wasn’t sure she could trust anyone with this. Her hands went to twist at her nightshirt and she downcast her eyes quickly.

“Alright, but -- swear on your honor as a future knight that you will keep this to yourself. If anyone were to know - anyone - it could be the gallows for me, do you understand?” Her eyes peered up at him, serious and afraid as ever. Soul’s forehead was wrinkled, but he gave a silent nod. “No - out loud. Swear out loud.”

“I swear on my honor, I won’t tell a soul, alright? Just get on with it already.”

She tried to think of an eloquent way to put this, a way that wouldn’t be so shocking to the system, but really, she had nothing. She sighed, looking away from him, pouting slightly, and finally grumbling out, “I’m a girl.”

The words were met with long silence. Finally he could only managed to spit out; “You’re a what?”

“A girl, you moron, I know you’re familiar with the sex.”

“This is the worst jest you’ve ever pulled, Mark, and that’s saying something.” He went to get up, running a hand through his hair. “If you’re not going to take this seriously --”

“I am serious! Why would I make something like this up? Why else would I be so adamant that the bleeding was normal? I’ve start developing in other areas, if you want me to take off my binding and show you. Or maybe I should just lift up my shirt all together, would that be enough?”

His cheeks burned a bright scarlet and he quickly turned away from her, shaking his head. “God Almighty, why couldn’t it have just been a stab wound?” He turned back to her, his face cautious but otherwise unreadable. “What’s your name, then? If it’s not Mark?”

“... Maka. My mother named me, it’s a name from her lands.”

He shook his head again. “Maka Albarn. A damned girl. This is rich.”

She waited a while longer, letting the silence linger between them again so he could have some time to let it all sink in. Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably only several minutes, she pulled her knees up to her chest and gazed up at him with concern. “Are you going to keep your word?”

“Of course I am. It might be shocking, but you’ve saved my neck enough times in battle now that there’s no way I’d just dig a grave like that for you.” He sighed, going finally to sit down next to her, avoiding the blood the best he could. “You’re one hell of a performer, I’ll give you that. You’ve had us all going.”

“Don’t start treating me any different now that you know or you’ll end up blowing my cover for everyone.” She sighed, placing her head against her knees. “Honestly, though, it feels good to get it out. Especially to you, Soul. I didn’t like having to lie. I just... I want to be a knight so badly. I don’t want to be a girl who sits around and does needlework and has babies year after year. It’s not... me.”

He nodded, keeping his eyes ahead of him, clearly lost in thought. She wished she could have read his mind, just to know what was going through it right then. Her eyes stayed on him and she jumped when he finally sighed.

“Give me your sheets and I’ll toss them outside one of the maids rooms. They’ll think a lady placed them there and then no one will have to know. Your nightshirt, too, if that’s got any blood on it. We’ll tear it up and use it for bandages.”

She let out a relieved sigh, going to do as instructed and pulling on a new nightshirt in its place. She noted that much as she’d told him to look away, his eyes had briefly lingered over his shoulder, clearly observing the bandages that now kept her slowly forming breasts bound to her figure. She tried to ignore it, going to tear up the shirt and quickly tucking the fabric between her legs as slyly as one could when being observed. She then tore of the sheets from the bed, going to hand them over to him. She held onto them as he tried to grab, forcing him to look her in the eye with a small tug.

“Thank you, Soul. You’re a true friend.”

 He smiled slightly, a blush there that hadn’t really gone away since she’d first told him her secret. He nodded, going to yank the sheets from her grasp as he headed for the door. “You really owe me for this one, Albarn. I’ll expect you to pay up someday.”


End file.
